the home grown quota rule is set to shake up the Premier League in a dramatic style, and for once, I believe Sam Allardyce and Blackburn Rovers might just be the big winners.

In summary, you can only name a total of 25 players in the squad, with the only players allowed to play who are outside this 25 are players under the age of 21. Also, in this 25, 8 players must be home-grown, meaning having registered for 3 years at an English or Welsh club whilst aged 16 through to 21.

Currently (please correct me if required), the following 24 can be named in our squad of 25, including the first 8 players who I classify as home-grown.

Zurab has not been included as it is apparent he has no future at the club.Now according to the above, we realistically only need to add 1 player to our squad to maximise the 25 man including 8 man home grown quota. This obviously can change if we sell any of the listed players.

So whilst the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham will have millions of pounds worth of wages sitting on the bench, rotting until the January window comes up, we will be fine, without the excess baggage we cant really afford anyways. And if we do get a bad run of injuries, well, thats the negative of the 25 man quota.I do believe there is a flaw in this system, which if possible, Rovers should attempt to work around. With the likes of Olsson and Jones almost definite starters, yet still able to fit in as under 21 players, Blackburn should attempt to snap up a senior English player who could fill in as one of the 8 home-grown players, meaning Olsson and Jones could not be listed as part of the 25, yet still play, keeping our squad slightly bigger then 25....Dont get me wrong, im not saying, sign Heskey, as it will make sense, but somebody around the likes of Heskey might actually make sense....Who is out there and how much, well, we dont know...So lets hop of the, Blackburn have no dosh, dont wanna spend etc etc, and just face the facts, we only need 1 player to fill the quota....

Comments

I do believe that the main reason that many teams have not boght is because they have no money Sas......it takes one money bags club like City to spark the merry-go-round and so far this has not happened because the big money spent on players has gone abroad...If Milner goes then i expect that Villa will go calling and so on and so on....having said that the 25 player rule will have managers re-thinking their plans and in fairness mate this is a very informative piece. Cheers!!!

Hey SAS great piece, just to clarify it is a minimum of 8 so in theory we could have more than 8. Which in essence we do, including those under 21. You didnt include Robinson in the 8 so really we have more than enough still with the luxury (and it is a luxury given how few non homegrown players some clubs have) to include or not some of those under 21. so really that 1 player to fill the 25th spot doesnt have to be from the UK...
Our youth saved us last season with the way they came on when things got a bit bare playing stocks wise and they look to put us in a good spot again this season without even kicking a ball.

I know that good Englishman have always been a bit more expensive than players from other countries for a whole range of reasons but the new rules put the rovers in a pretty good position to ask for a premium when and if clubs come calling for our homegrowns. (Oh and Roberts also fits the homegrown criteria).
i am still concerned with the lack of transfer activity, the only good thing (if it is a good thing) is the fans frustrations are mirrored by BFSam towards the board.
Still it doesnt take much to get me up for a new season. I am so looking forward to see how much more those youngsters improve and who else might be coming through.
COME ON ROVERS!!